A TRUE  STORY  OF  A 

li\t:-wire 

READING  CONTEST 


Answers  the  Question: 


“How  Can  Women  Spread 
the  Gospel  of 
Christian  Stewardship?”  - 


Iiiterchurch  World  Movement 
of  North  Am’erica 
45  West  18th  Street  New  York  City 


NOTICE 


The  plan  outlined  in  this  pamphlet 
is  merely  suggestive.  In  some  places 
it  may  need  to  be  modified  and  adapted; 
especially  is  this  true  of  the  list  of 
pamphlets  herein  given.  Other  suitable 
literature  can  be  obtained  at  your  own 
denominational  headquarters,  if  pre- 
ferred. 

The  contest  should  be  started  as  soon 
as  possible  in  order  to  prepare  the  way 
for  an  early  Stewardship  Acknowledg- 
ment Day  in  your  church. 

A descriptive  price  list  of  Interchurch 
stewardship  literature,  including  other 
pamphlets  besides  those  in  the  “Reading 
Contest  Packet”  may  be  had  on  appli- 
cation to  the  Women’s  Activities  De- 
partment, Interchurch  World  Move- 
ment, 45  West  i8th  Street,  New  York 
City. 


Copyright  1920  by  the  Interchurch  World  Movement 
of  North  America. 


A True  Story  of  a Live- 
Wire  Reading  Contest 


I.  MAKING  A STIR 

NEVER  heard  of  anything  like 
it,”  exclaimed  Mary  Ward. 
“Everybody’s  reading,  and  if  they 
aren’t  reading,  they’re  talking  about 
it.  And  if  they’re  not  talking  about  it. 
rhej'^’re  coming  ’round  on  the  quiet  to 
find  out  what’s  going  on.” 

“It’s  the  same  old  storjs  Mary,” 
said  Mrs.  Cadman.  “Given  one  of 
God’s  big  truths,  plus  a good  plan  of 
going  to  work,  plus  a half-dozen  deter- 
mined women — and  something  surely 
will  happen.” 

“Your’ re  right,  dear.  But  I must  tell 
you  about  Elizabeth  Elliott.  What 
do  you  think!  She  called  me  up  on 
the  telephone — it  was  the  fiftieth  time 
it  had  rung  that  evening — and  asked 
me  in  a mysterious  manner  if  I was 
‘at  home.’  You  remember  she  flatly 
refused  to  help  us  in  the  beginning. 


A True  Story  of  a 


Well,  I almost  told  her  I wasn’t  *at 
home-,’  but  T finally  relented  and  she 
ran  over  in  a few  minutes.  She  whis- 
pered to  me,  ‘Can’t  you  sneak  me  a 
book?  Everj'body  else  is  reading,  and 
I just  have  to  know  what  they’re  talk-  , 
ing  about.’” 

“I  hope  you  gave  her  what  she 
wanted,”  laughed  Mrs.  Cadman. 

“And  there’s  my  neighbor,  Mrs. 
James,”  continued  Mary.  “At  the 
very  beginning  she  said  that  she  didn’t 
believe  in  mixing  up  money  and  re- 
ligion.” 

“How  in  the  world  did  she  connect 
a leading  contest  with  money?” 

“She  didn’t,  but  her  liusband  did. 
He  told  her  that  all  this  excitement  was 
finally  to  get  people  to  give  more 
money  to  the  church.  And  so  yester- 
day, after  she  had  been  talking  with 
her  husband,  she  came  to  ask  me  if, 
in  case  she  decided  to  become  a tither, 
she  could  use  her  tithe  to  buy  new 
shades  for  her  stepmother.” 

“Well,  what  did  you  .say  to  that?” 
asked  Mrs.  Cadman. 

4 


Live-Wire  Reading  Contest 


“Oh,  that’s  easy.  I told  her  tha,t 
she’d  better  decide  for  herself  after 
she’d  read  the  books.  And  you  know, 
she  is  actually  reading  them.  And 
when  I met  her  this  morning,  she  said, 
almost  shyly,  that  she  had  found  an 
answer  to  her  question.  And  there  are 
a lot  more  just  like  her.  I really  didn’t 
expect  that  a reading  contest  would 
make  such  a stir.” 

IT.  now  rr  started 

1\TRS.  CADMAN,  the  Stewardship 
Secretary  of  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety, had  been  much  concerned  at  her 
slow  progress  in  bringing  others  to 
experience  the  joy  and  satisfaction  of 
setting  apart  for  the  Lord’s  work  a 
definite  proportion  of  income. 

“It  has  been  so  truly  a means  of 
grace  to  me,”  she  often  said;  “and  it 
is  so  closely  related  to  the  coming  of 
the  kingdom,  that  I wish  all  women 
would  practise  it.” 

So  it  happened  that  a plan  finally 
suggested  itself. 


5 


A True  Story  of  a 

“It’s  a reading  contest,”  she  confided 
to  her  friend,  Mary  Ward.  “Every- 
body’s interested  in  a contest.  We 
could  divide  the  women  into  groups, 
with  a captain  over  each  group;  select 
some  interesting  pamphlets  or  books; 
give  points  for  each  one  read;  end  up* 
with  some  kind  of  a meeting  or  jubi- 
lation; and  so  get  a lot  of  people  to 
know  what  stewardship  is  about.” 

Mary  broke  in  with  another  thought. 
“I  believe  it’s  providential.  You  know 
the  pastor  has  just  finished  dividing 
the  parish  up  into  groups  of  families. 
That  will  save  us  some  work  at  the 
start.  It  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to 
find  a woman  to  captain  each  group. 
When  shall  we  begin?” 

“Just  as  soon  as  we  can  get  the  co- 
operation of  the  president  of  our  two 
missionary  societies,  talk  it  over  with 
the  pastor,  and  get  our  plans  into 
shape,”  said  Mrs.  Cadman.  Then  after 
a moment,  looking  sharply  at  her 
friend,  she  continued  enthusiastically, 
“The  big  thing,  and  the  first  thing  to 
find,  is  a general  director,  and  that  will 
be  you.” 


Live-Wire  Reading  Contest 


“Never!”  exclaimed  Mary.  am 
not  adapted  to  that  kind  of  work.  1 
haven’t  the  time;  I never  could  organ- 
ize folks.” 

Nevertheless,  before  the  week  was 
over  the  plans,  were  made,  and  Mary 
Ward  was  organizing  her  group  lead- 
ers. The  reading  contest  had  started 
with  a bang. 

Sounds  easy!  Yes,  but  it  needed 
grace  and  inspiration.  One  member 
hesitated,  but  finally  said  that  she 
would  be  a leader  of  a team,  even 
though  it  meant  giving  up  buying  a 
new  hat  for  Sunday. 

, Mary  Ward’s  dearest  friend,  Eliza- 
beth Elliott,  on  whom  Mary  depended 
to  be  her  first  leader,  flatly  refused.  “It 
would  sever  our  friendship!”  exclaimed 
Elizabeth.  “Don’t  ask  me,,  I never 
could  do  It.  Let’s  forget  It.” 

It  was  different  with  Grace  Win- 
throp.  She  also  refused,  although  with 
reluctance.  “I  can’t  do  it,  Mary,”  said 
she.  “Fancy  me  leading  a team  of 
women.”  At  sight  of  Mary’s  disap- 
pointed face  she  added,  “I  do  hate  to 
refuse  you.” 


7 


A True  Story  of  a 


But  Mary  had  an  idea.  “I  know  what 
you  can  do.  You  paint  so  beautifully. 
You  can  make  us  the  chart.  Will  you 
do  that?” 

“Ohj  I certainly  will.  And  I’ll  make 
a beauty,  too.” 

in.  RULES  OF  THE  GAME 

T T was  agreed  to  begin  the  next  Sun- 
day,  and  continue  for  four  weeks. 
Lists  of  teams  and  leaders  were  posted 
on  bulletins.  Each  leader  took  a list 
of  her  group  and,  following  the  mid- 
week prayer  meeting,  held  an  informal 
class  for  instruction  in  the  rules.  The 
purpose  and  plan  of  the  contest  were 
made  public,  and  the  chart  which 
Grace  Winthrop  had  made  was  used  as 
a bulletin  to  indicate  credits  won.  The 
assistant  to  the  team  leader  reported 
weekly  to  the  general  director  the  win- 
ning of  points  by  her  team.  Enthusi- 
asm ran  high  as  the  bulletin  announced 
the  score  of  the  different  teams. 

The  leaders  had  already  prepared  the 
following  list  of  literature,  and  sug- 
8 


Live-Wire  Reading  Contest 


gested  crediting  the  number  of  points 
indicated  after  each  title. 

T ext  Book 


"The  New  Christian"  (/Cnshman) (paper)  50  points 

Pamphlets 

“The  New  Emphasis” 10  points 

“The  Stewardship  of  Money"  (F.  B.  Meyer) . . 10  points 

“The  Church  Treasurer  Who  (k)t  Mad" s points 

“The  Jarring  of  Jacob  Shapleigh" 5 points 

“Thanksgiving  Ann” lo  points 

“Proportionate  Giving"  (/?.  E.  Speer) 10  points 

This  Reading  Contest  Packet  containing  the  literature 


named  may  be  had  for  35  cents  (cash  with  the  order)  per 
packet,  post  paid,  on  application. 

Order  “Reading  Contest  Packet”  from  Interchurch 
World  Movement,  45  West  i8th  Street,  New  York  City. 

Credits  were  to  be  awarded  on  the 
honor  statement  of  the  reader.  If  she 
secured  the  reading  of  any  book  or 
pamphlet  by  others  than  those  enrolled 
in  the  classes,  she  should  have  double 
credit.  All  the  team  leaders  were  sup- 
plied with  the  literature  on  the  same 
day. 

IV.  WHAT  HAPPENED 

COMMUTING  members  were  dis- 
covered on  the  trains  going  to 
New  York,  reading  “Thanksgiving  Ann” 
and  “The  New  Christian”  instead  of 
the  New  York  “Scream”  or  the  Daily 
“Eagle” 


A True  Story  of  a 


One  little  girl  became  so  engrossed 
in  “Thanksgiving  Ann”  that  she 
begged  to  be  allowed  to  take  it  to 
school.  The  result  was  that  the  teacher 
read  the  little  story  aloud  to  the  whole 
class. 

Fathers  and  brothers  began  to  in- 
(juire  what  was  so  absorbing;  the  tele- 
phone of  the  contest  director  rang  as 
steadily  as  a bell-buoy  in  a fog,  an 
nouncing  additions  to  the  contestants, 
points  gained,  or  a convert  to  steward- 
ship. 

As  soon  as  the  women  began  to  dis- 
cuss tithing-stewardship  for  them- 
selves, certain  difficulties  came  to  light. 
For  example,  many  women  are  quite 
unused  to  bookkeeping,  and  so  find  it 
difficult  to  determine  what  their  tithe 
would  be.  Again,  here  is  a woman 
whose  husband  is  liberality  itself  in 
the  matter  of  charge  accounts,  but  he 
does  not  see  the  propriety  of  giving  his 
wife  money  to  handle.  How  can  she 
tithe?  Indeed,  how  can  any  woman 
become  a tithing  steward,  though  mar- 
ried! Yet  the  women  found  answers 


10 


Live-Wire  Reading  Contest 

in  the  course  of  their  stewardship  read- 
ing contest. 

Two  little  boys,  standing  wistful- 
eyed before  the  bulletin  board  one  Sun- 
d2iyy  confessed,  after  some  coaxing, 
that  since  they  had  done  all  the  re- 
quired reading,  they  expected  to  see 
their  names  on  the  roll  of  honor.  The 
children  were  assured  that,  even 
though  their  names  did  not  appear  on 
the  bulletin,  they  should  have  seats  of 
honor  at  the  Pot-luck  Supper  to  be 
held  at  the  close  of  the  contest. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  surprise  of  all 
came  when  Mary  Ward’s  friend,  Eliz- 
abeth Elliott,  who  had  declared  she 
never  could  do  the  reading,  calmly  rose 
in  prayer  meeting  and  said  emphatic- 
ally that  every  one  ought  to  own  the 
stewardship  books.  Moreover,  she 
confessed  that  she  had  been  indifferent 
at  the  beginning,  but  that  for  her  the' 
contest  in  reading  had  been  a conquest 
for  stewardship.  “I  did  not  know  that 
stewardship  was  like  this, ’’she  said  earn- 
estly. “It  is  not  stewardship  only;  it  is 
the  real  Christian  life  itself.” 


n 


Live-Wire  Reading  Contest 


V.  CLOSING  THE  CONTEST 

This  is  the  story  of  what  actually 
happened  at  the  Summit  church.  New 
life  and  fresh  inspiration  had  come 
with  the  inrush  of  enthusiasm  for  the 
stewardship  idea.  As  a result  five 
hundred  readers  were  reported,  and 
thirty-five  signed  the  cards  as  Chris- 
tian Stewards.  An  every-member  can- 
vass was  to  follow  when  others  would 
undoubtedly  be  ready  to  make  a definite 
decision  as  to  offerings  of  time,  service 
and  resources  for  the  kingdom. 

The  complete  results  cannot  be  tab- 
ulated in  figures.  Every  church  follow- 
ing such  a plan  will  not  only  contribute 
to  the  membership  of  the  Ten  Million 
League  of  Christian  Stewards,  but  will 
add  conviction  to  the  principle  that 
putting  God  first  and  abiding  in  his 
promises  will  always  assure  the  highest 
kind  of  prosperity. 


No.  327.  Stw.  Vl.  so.  Feb.  ip20. 

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